Hiob 7 | New International Reader’s Version

1 Job continued, ‘Don’t all human beings have to work hard on this earth? Aren’t their days like the days of hired workers? 2 I’ve been like a slave who longs for the evening shadows to come. I’ve been like a hired worker who is waiting to be paid. 3 I’ve been given several months that were useless to me. My nights have been filled with suffering. 4 When I lie down I think, “How long will it be before I can get up?” The night drags on. I toss and turn until sunrise. 5 My body is covered with worms and sores. My skin is broken. It has boils all over it. 6 ‘My days pass by faster than a weaver can work. They come to an end. I don’t have any hope. 7 God, remember that my life is only a breath. I’ll never be happy again. 8 The eyes that see me now won’t see me anymore. You will look for me. But I’ll be gone. 9 When a cloud disappears, it’s gone for ever. And anyone who goes down to the grave never returns. 10 He never comes home again. Even his own family doesn’t remember him. 11 ‘So I won’t keep quiet. When I’m suffering greatly, I’ll speak out. When my spirit is bitter, I’ll tell you how unhappy I am. 12 Am I the ocean? Am I the sea monster? If I’m not, why do you guard me so closely? 13 Sometimes I think my bed will comfort me. I think my couch will keep me from being unhappy. 14 But even then you send me dreams that frighten me. You send me visions that terrify me. 15 So I would rather choke to death. That would be better than living in this body of mine. 16 I hate my life. I don’t want to live for ever. Leave me alone. My days don’t mean anything to me. 17 ‘What are human beings that you think so much of them? What are they that you pay so much attention to them? 18 You check up on them every morning. You test them every moment. 19 Won’t you ever look away from me? Won’t you leave me alone even for one second? 20 If I’ve really sinned, tell me what I’ve done to you. You see everything we do. Why do you shoot your arrows at me? Have I become a problem to you? 21 Why don’t you forgive the wrong things I’ve done? Why don’t you forgive me for my sins? I’ll soon lie down in the dust of my grave. You will search for me. But I’ll be gone.’

English Standard Version

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

1 “Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? 2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, 3 so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. 4 When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. 6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope. 7 “Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. 8 The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone. 9 As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; 10 he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore. 11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me? 13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ 14 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, 15 so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. 16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. 17 What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, 18 visit him every morning and test him every moment? 19 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit? 20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? 21 Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

Hiob 7 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope